Rain

There is a weird trait that runs in my family. When we fall asleep our eyes are often open ever so slightly. It brings in to our dreams the faintest of glimpses; Just a sliver of the waking world. It is enough to have a slight effect on our dreams, adding a touch of reality to the images in our mind. Because of this flaw... or perhaps gift... my family has the most vivid and detailed of dreams.

I claim it as a gift most any day of any year. There was one day, though... one rainy, morose day that my most animated dreams were seen as a flaw. I was sixteen at the time, and it was a hot, sticky August night. I left the window open just an inch, hoping to entice a breeze to grace me with its cooling breath...

I woke up before the alarm. Bleary-eyed, I surveyed the room. Everything seemed in place, and I figured since I was up I might as well get dressed. As soon as my feet touch the floor, a gust of wind blew through my window, pushing back my curtains 'til they tickled the ceiling. I crept toward the window, and pushed it down tight. I locked it as per usual window etiquette in my house. As I turned to get dressed, it started to rain.

It was a harder rain than we had in years; A great torrent hitting the house so hard it could've been mistaken for hail. The downpour just came out of no where. There were no clouds in the sky when I closed the window, and there was no mention of any rain on the evening weather report the night before. I shrugged it off as your general summer rain (you can never predict them) and start getting dressed. I was reaching for my belt, the capstone to my dressing pyramid, when I heard a woman screaming.

I momentarily froze. My first instinct was to run to my mother's bedroom, and see what had happened. Maybe the thunder had jolted her awake? No... It couldn't have been mom. The scream came from outside. I walked over to the window and gazed out in to the falling water. I froze in a mixture of panic and fear.

She was just standing in my driveway. I  could plainly see the white picket fence through her. I couldn't make out her face -- if she even had one, but eyes or no, I could literally feel her looking at me. Looking in to me...

I woke up in panic. I was covered in sweat, and breathing heavily. The clock read 6:14 AM, I still had sixteen minutes until the alarm was supposed to go off. I didn't want to go back to sleep, not after that dream, so I got up and started getting dressed.

I reached for my belt, and it started to rain.